In a two-catcher CBS league in 2008, I followed some bad advice to snag catchers EARLY. I went for Martin in the 4th (after Cabrera, Crawford, Morneau), Tulo in the 5th and McCann in the 6th. I thought I was sitting pretty, but my team sucked something fierce in the OF and elsewhere (Crawford, Abreu, Dunn, Ad Jones, And Jones).

Recently, I had been testing a theory of grabbing one elite catcher (Mauer, Martin, McCann) in the first five rounds of my mocks, and things seem to be working out decently, but I'm always up for some convincing otherwise...

The problem with grabbing a top catcher is you're going to lack something elsewhere as you said with your CBS league (and I said in the blurb on McCann in that post you linked to). And you grabbed two of the best catchers. Imagine you grabbed V-Mart.

It just comes down to the difference between a top catcher and a middle of the road one really isn't that much. Say you had Doumit, someone who was widely available, and his 71/15/69/.319/2. Now say you had the top catcher, Joe Mauer and his 97/9/83/.330/1.

You missed 26/-6/14/push on average b/c of the lesser ABs and -1 steal. So for 26 runs and 14 RBIs you used an ADP of 53. Say you didn't get Doumit. On that list of top 20 catchers, I'd argue the top 12 were ownable. They were all drafted by a lot after Mauer.

Say instead of Mauer you drafted someone else in the fifth round last year such as Adrian Gonzalez of 103/36/119/.279. Let's say you got lucky and grabbed Jose Lopez off waivers for 80/17/89/.297/6. Huge difference between those two in favor of Gonzalez.

Say you grabbed Cantu. You did better, but Gonzalez was still better. The only real shocker on that list was Huff. On the list of 20 catchers, there's a lot of guys that could've been had way late.

If you want me to look at your team, post the team. Don't post a link to another site where the team is.Have you given me all the info I need to judge your team? The number of teams in the league is a good start for the big overall questions.Is your league H2H? Roto?I don't know who's on your waivers. Don't just ask me who you should pick up. Give me names to choose from.If you only have one team, post your team in your signature with the league parameters.I don't know every single matchup for next week, so if you want me to choose a player for the following week and you think the matchups are important, tell me who they're facing.

The catcher spot in my auction league has a bit of a history to it. I pay $1, and only $1, every year, usually for A.J. Pierzynski. (No one is going to bid up the 12th or, curiously sometimes, 13th catcher taken.)

In fact, this same strategy actually DID get me a $4 Adrian Gonzalez two year ago, as the other guy in the running for Gonzalez at the end of the draft had precisely $4 left, and I had something like $10. (I know he went for $4 because it was a keeper league, and he is going to be on my 2009 roster for $14.)

I try to get a top tier catcher in every draft, but refuse to reach for them based on my own draft board. I think McCann or Mauer are solid picks in round six of a ten team draft. I especially like the BA insulation Mauer can provide when you handcuff him to a guy like Ryan Howard. That gives you latitude to steal a late round power hitter with a bad average who slides.

Howard in 2008: 153 hits in 610 ABs for a .251 average.

Mauer in 2008: 176 hits in 536 ABs for a .328 average.

Take Howard in round two and Mauer in round six and create the new paradigm known as MauHoward.

MauHoward in 2008: 329 hits in 1146 ABs for a .287 average, which is good for a top three finish in that category. More importantly, it lets you draft a Burrell or Cameron late without sending a torpedo into your team batting average.

I play in CBS leagues where you start two catchers and the difference between the top three guys and the ones ranked from 18-20 are significant enough to entertain the position scarcity argument. In split leagues, you're basically scouring for ABs, or whoever is liable to hurt you least, as your C2.

That said, I'll pass on the top couple tiers and settle for guys like Pierzynski in the end game. It's kind of funny how far he slides in 5X5 leagues every year, as if personality were a category.